Why UDDI Rocks

In this point/counterpoint, Microsoft's Steven Martin, senior director
of product management in the Connected Systems Division...tells us why UDDI
rocks. "Six years ago, SOAP was something you washed your
hands with, and cross-vendor system interoperability was a major
obstacle facing CIOs and architects. Today, Web services technologies
are ubiquitous. Every CIO worth his or her salt has a strategy for
where Web services fits into the portfolio of IT investments.

"Nearly every major system, whether
custom-built or off-the-shelf, includes a Web services interface for
extensibility and interoperability. Consider a few pieces just from
Microsoft: any Web services client-.Net, Java, PHP, Python, Visual
Basic, C#, you name it-can connect to Exchange Server to retrieve
schedules or to send e-mail messages.

"An Excel spreadsheet can collect data from
an underwriting application implemented in Java. Any Web services
client can connect to SQL Server or to SharePoint Server. A PHP
application running on Linux can send a computation out to the Excel
Services engine. A ColdFusion page can kick-off a business process
hosted in BizTalk Server.

"The beauty of this is that all major
software vendors support it-Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, SAP-as well as
smaller targeted vendors who supply call center applications, human
resources applications, or manufacturing control systems. SOAP is
everywhere. You can even manage your Cisco or F5 gear over SOAP.

"This is not about the bits-and-bytes. Web
services bring business value today. We all know [that] no company
conducts business exclusively within their four walls. The broad
industry support for Web services means you can stitch together systems
from different vendors, or integrate major building blocks from
partners and acquired companies. That brings real business agility
benefits.

"In six years, systems interop has become
dramatically simpler and easier, and SOAP and WSDL have made that
possible. Despite the massive adoption of SOAP, there are other
protocols, and that will always be the case. Innovation and evolution
breeds specialization and heterogeneity.

"REST, using XML or not, is often cited as an
alternative to SOAP. True enough, but this a distinction without a
difference. Does it really matter if there are angle brackets or curly
braces on the wire?

"The key requirements are: it-just-works
interoperability between systems, productivity and power with the
development and management tools, and flexibility or "future proofing"
in the programming frameworks.

"These are the tenets supported by Microsoft's integration infrastructure, including Windows Communication Foundation
(WCF), the high-performance programming framework for communications;
and BizTalk Server, the process engine and integration hub. These
pieces remain constant regardless of how you decide to employ SOAP,
REST or some other system-specific protocol.

"Where are the opportunities for improvement
in today's integration technologies? There are several, but given
current trajectory, service registry is an important area. Today, IT
manages multiple repositories: a code repository for developers, a
systems repository for systems managers, a project repository for
project managers. SOA initiatives may add a service repository to the
mix.

"Converging or federating these disparate
systems, and exposing this information to stakeholders in all phases of
the IT system lifecycle-project managers, architects, developers,
business analysts, compliance managers, security officers, systems
administrators and so on-will spur the next great jump in business
productivity and agility. This convergence is a key part of the vision
behind Microsoft's forthcoming 'Oslo' wave of products.

"SOAP, WSDL, WS-*, and UDDI are proven and
widely adopted, and REST is growing strongly. Building upon that base,
the next evolution of this infrastructure will bring even more value."